A man who spent two decades working at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate said in an interivew that he helped load boxes of classified documents onto a plane leaving Florida, recounted a story of an Australian billionaire boasting that Trump showed him classified material and contended that “feasibly, at night, anybody could” have accessed the rooms where Trump kept the documents after his presidency.
“There's been some very public instances of people sneaking on property. Look, I think it's secure, but there were definitely a lot of gaps where people could get in very easily,” Brian Butler told CNN in an interview that aired on Monday.
“I could have went and got a master key to all the rooms for check-ins," Butler said. "I oversaw all the check-ins with the valets, all of that. So, I mean, feasibly, at night, anybody could” have accessed some of the rooms where the documents were stored.
Special counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors allege Trump and some of his employees worked to hide classified material from the FBI and kept them in unsecured locations, including a ballroom and a bathroom, as well as hampered the government's efforts to retrieve them. Trump has been charged with 40 felonies in the case, with prosecutors saying in one court filing that “there has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s.” (He has pleaded not guilty and alleged a politically motivated prosecution.)
Butler worked as a valet and then ran a car service for Mar-a-Lago guests until November 2022, a couple of months after the FBI raided the Florida country club and a few months before the FBI raided his home. He is referred to as “Trump Employee 5” in Trump’s indictment and has not been charged with a crime after fully cooperating with the investigators.
At one point in 2021, in an incident that has previously been reported, Butler says Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt boasted to a Trump aide in front of him that the former president told him classified information about Russian and U.S. submarines.
And on June 3, 2022, Butler said he worked with Trump bodyman Will Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira to load cardboard boxes full of documents onto Trump’s plane in Florida before it took off for New Jersey for the summer. That day, an attorney for Trump told the FBI that all classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were accounted for, according to the indictment. Prosecutors now say that assertion by Trump’s team was false, alleging that the ex-president delayed his flight to speak with federal investigators that day and “claimed to the Department of Justice and FBI that he was ‘an open book,’” according to a court filing, hours after Butler says 10-15 boxes of documents were loaded onto the former president’s plane.
Nauta had asked Butler to borrow a car from the car service he ran, the former employee recalled in the CNN interview.
“I didn't think anything of it. It was a little odd the way he asked me… because typically, he wouldn’t go get a vehicle, drive himself and get luggage,” Butler said, recounting Nauta waiting for him offsite to follow him in a separate car with the boxes of documents. Once at the airport, Butler helped load them onto the plane, unaware of the classified documents prosecutors now say were inside. “I'm just thinking, ‘eh, the former president, he has a lot of stuff he likes to lug around with him.’ I never would have thought it was anything like what we see.”
Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira are accused by prosecutors of trying to delete surveillance footage later that month to keep it from the FBI. (Both Nauta and De Oliveira have pleaded not guilty to charges in the case.)
Butler recalled De Oliveria, his best friend for 20 years and his neighbor, telling him on a walk one day near their homes that Nauta was returning to Palm Beach. The next day, De Oliveira told Butler that Nauta’s return was a secret and then asked if Butler knew how long surveillance camera footage is saved at Mar-a-Lago.
According to prosecutors, De Oliveira later told a Mar-a-Lago IT employee that “the boss” wanted the footage deleted. In August 2022, the FBI obtained the security footage and found it showed Trump’s employees moving and inspecting classified documents the Department of Justice had long been asking Trump to return.
Two weeks after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Nauta called Butler and “said words to the effect of, ‘someone just wants to make sure Carlos is good,’” prosecutors wrote. Butler told Nauta that his best friend was loyal and that he “would not do anything to affect his relationship with Trump.” Later that day, Trump called De Oliveria and told him that he would get him an attorney.
Butler speculated in the CNN interview that the former president directed Nauta to reach out to him. After their conversation, Butler said, Nauta added him to a group chat using the app Signal — which offers encrypted texting — with top Trump campaign advisor Susan Wiles and told him to tell Wiles what he had said about De Oliveria’s loyalty. Within 30 minutes, Trump calls De Oliveria, according to Butler.
“I'm with Carlos. We're at the Hard Rock by the food court and his phone rings. And it's the former president,” Butler said. “I can't remember how long the conversation was. But I know at the end of the conversation, when they hung up, Carlos said, ‘he's gonna get me an attorney.’”
Later, one of Trump’s then-attorneys John Rowley, called Butler in the hopes to speak with him after he was subpoenaed by the federal grand jury looking into the case.
“Hey, Brian. Good morning. My name is John Rowley. I'm one of the lawyers representing President Trump. It's my understanding that you got a grand jury subpoena,” Rowley said in a voicemail that Butler shared with CNN. “Would you please give me a call at your first opportunity?”
Butler said he did not respond, referring the call to his already-hired personal lawyer. But he said he felt pressure from Rowley and De Oliveria, his longtime friend, to work with Trump’s legal team.
“The former president has divided the nation like I've never seen before. And he's now divided my best friend since I was 19 years old, almost,” Butler said. “We've been friends for so long. And just think now you're just, it's — I don't know, it's just very — it sucks.”